Suite 138: Conversations

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph's sprawled on the couch, watching Wendy the Werewolf Stalker - old episodes, but they're always good for a re-run. There is popcorn nearby. Also, chocolate.

And the door's invitingly open, spilling sound and light into the corridor. Stop by, if you're passing. Her flatmate's randomly vanished, and she could always use company.

Comments

[alwaysroomforhope]

"No. Yeah. Thank you." Steph's voice is distant and carefully controlled. She looks away, still hardly moving. "I appreciate being told." She clamps her lips together tightly.

The blaring of Wendy the Werewolf Stalker is loud in the quiet room. Steph smacks her hand down on the remote, muting it; the heroes and villains keep fighting on the screen, bright shapes in Steph's peripheral vision.

She's not. going. to. cry. She won't. It's a hard enough decision for Barry. He doesn't need some girl making it even worse. She stares at the floor determinedly and folds her hands in her lap.

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

Barry looks at the poor kid, struggling with this. How do you react to this? He should say something.

"Stephanie...

"I'm glad I got to meet you. I'm glad that you are part of my life."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph nods briefly, not really trusting herself to speak.

She knows it's not betrayal, she knows he's not deliberately abandoning her like everyone else ... Batman, Tim, her father, her mother, even Cass... because Barry wouldn't do that. But knowing something isn't the same as feeling it.

She takes a deep breath and tries to remember Batman's emotional control methods, and when she looks up she has her Robin face on, bright smile and all.

"I'm happy for you," she says, and it hardly sounds false at all.

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

He can tell something isn't right here. He knows that she can be quite emotional, which is sometimes a good thing. Lord knows, he hasn't been, and maybe he should be.

"I am not. I don't want to go. To leave Sara, or my friends. Or you.

"You're family now. Do you know that?"

[alwaysroomforhope]

That floors her, cracking the Robin face like an egg. She looks up, eyes brimming. "I - I'm gonna miss you, Barry."

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

The tears come to his eyes as well.

"I'm going to miss you, too, Stephanie. I'm glad I got to know you.

"Glad I was there for you. And glad to see what you can become."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph bites her lip. "When - when are you going?" She wants to ask if he has to go - but she knows the answer.

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

"Probably in the next couple of weeks. The Speed Force is not telling me much, but I sense it." He pauses.

"I'd like you to be there when I go."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"I'll be there," Steph promises, without having to think about it. "I'll - yeah. I'll be there."

She wraps her arms around herself. "Where? How - are you just - how?"

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

He gathers his words. He hasn't even told Sara this yet.

"It will be out by the lake. I will just start running, until the Force grabs me. It almost happened once here."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph nods silently. It's hard to grasp.

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

Barry gets up and steps over to Stephanie, And then takes her hands very gingerly.

"Thanks. It will mean a lot, You're..." He can't make himself say "like a daughter" even now. "You're one of the best."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph sniffles, and then throws her arms around him. "You're like family, Barry. It's going to really suck without you here."

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

What can he say? Anything will just make her cry more. But he hs to say something.

"I know. No one else can run like me." LEt's try being silly, he thinks.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph manages a laugh. "Yeah, we'll be screwed when we want a quick lift somewhere."

She shows no signs of letting go.

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

Neither does he.

"Never mind that. If you need your room painted in ten minutes, you'll have to ask some other metahuman."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph can't think of anything much more to say. She doesn't want him to go. She can't even calculate how much she doesn't want him to go, and if she tries to say anything else she's sure it'll come out a pathetic plea. So she just holds on, and tries not to imagine the Bar without that particular source of comfort.

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

And Barry knows this must be killing Steph. This hurts more than even telling Sara did. Sara, he knows, can take care of herself and has friends to help. And Sara knew he would have to leave before everything else happened. Steph? He hopes and prays she does as well.

But for now, he just holds her, and lets her cope.